SB 598 threatens California small businesses with higher health care costs (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly, CLAUDIA OLIVEIRA: "California business owners are facing mounting difficulties amidst the challenging 2023 business landscape. Rising inflation has led to soaring healthcare costs for businesses and compounding these challenges is SB 598, a bill currently under consideration in the California Legislature. If enacted, it would further burden businesses, especially small businesses, with additional costs while introducing low-value care into the state’s healthcare system, harming patients across California.
One of the key provisions of SB 598 is the dismantling of prior authorization, a vital tool used in limited circumstances to maintain affordable healthcare costs and ensure high-quality and safe patient care. Prior authorization serves as a critical oversight mechanism for healthcare providers, prioritizing evidence-backed procedures and avoiding unnecessary, expensive, and potentially harmful treatments."
Spending on lobbying firms grew 9 percent in the second quarter of 2023
Capitol Weekly, BRIAN JOSEPH: "Special interests paid firms more than $76 million to lobby the California state government in the second quarter of 2023, according to a Capitol Weekly analysis of lobbying firm reports.
That figure doesn’t capture all of the money spent on lobbying during the second quarter, as it doesn’t include wages and expenses for in-house lobbyists, among other expenses. But it does show roughly a 9 percent increase in spending on lobbying firms over the first quarter of 2023."
Is Tom Girardi’s dementia an act? Court to hear evidence
LA Times, HARRIET RYAN: "Tom Girardi spent his career schmoozing with other lawyers about big cases, often in a smart suit at a choice table in his private club.
But earlier this year in meetings with attorneys preparing to defend him against federal wire fraud charges, the 84-year-old seemed decidedly out of his depth, according to a court filing."
San Jose Chamber of Commerce CEO quits to take East Bay teaching job
BANG*Mercury News, GEORGE AVALOS: "The top boss at the San Jose Chamber of Commerce has quit his post as chief executive officer in a move that forces the business group to find its third leader in three years.
Derrick Seaver has decided to depart his job as CEO of the San Jose Chamber to take a teaching job with a Christian school in the East Bay, the chamber confirmed Tuesday night."
Global firestorm: A summer of infernos in Canada, Greece, Hawaii and beyond point to the future
LA Times, HAYLEY SMITH: "Ash-covered cars still line the highway in Lahaina, Hawaii, where hundreds of people tried in vain to escape from a fast-moving and fatal wildfire, like a scene out of a nightmare.
In Canada, raging fires are still burning through more than 30 million acres of boreal forests, spewing noxious smoke and choking nearby communities with some of the worst air quality on Earth."
What to know about the wildfires in California and Oregon affecting Bay Area air quality
The Chronicle, LAYA NEELAKANDAN: "Wildfires burning tens of thousands of acres across the northern reaches of California could send smoke down to portions of the North Bay on Tuesday, potentially fouling air quality conditions.
Two clusters of wildfires, named the Happy Camp Complex and the Smith River Complex, have together burned over 50,000 acres of land near the Oregon border."
San Francisco could face one of the hottest days of the year. Here’s what to expect
The Chronicle, GERRY DIAZ: "A chain of events could lead to some of the hottest temperatures of the year for San Franciscans and Oaklanders.
Weather models predict that a sizable heat dome is going to creep into the Bay Area on Wednesday. Hot and muggy weather generally avoids residents in bay shore cities, but the depleted marine layer will raise the odds of hot weather on Wednesday that could rival Sunday’s record-breaking heat."
California woman is first tourist to be identified as victim of Maui fires
The Chronicle, MEGAN FAN MUNCE: "Theresa Cook of California was the first tourist identified by officials as a victim of the deadly Maui fires.
Cook, 72, was staying in a hotel in Lahaina and was scheduled to fly home to Sacramento on August 9, one day after the fire started, according to a Facebook post by her daughter. Cook’s daughter said her mother fled on foot and then went missing. Maui County authorities announced her death on Thursday."
Toxic trash: California’s aging hazardous waste sites have troubling safety records
CALMatters, ROBERT LEWIS: "California produces millions of tons of hazardous waste every year – toxic detritus that can leach into groundwater or blow into the air. It’s waste that can explode, spark fires, eat through metal containers, destroy ecosystems and sicken people. It’s dangerous material that we have come to rely on and ignore – the flammable liquids used to cleanse metal parts before painting, the lead and acid in old car batteries, even the shampoos that can kill fish.
It all needs to go somewhere."
In the face of sea level rise, can we reimagine California’s vanishing coastline?
LA Times, ROSANNA XIA: "The sea has long inspired a human attraction, perhaps even a compulsion, to be as close to the edge as possible. Its sheer power captivates us, even on its most turbulent days, and we can’t help but dream of calling the shore our own. To be out by the surf, to sense the very limits of where land can go, to feel the rise and fall of each wave like our own breath is to reckon with a force so alive it feels otherworldly. But the ocean is not “out there” beyond the shore, it is upon us, carving away at the coast each day despite our best efforts to keep the water at bay. We thought that with enough ingenuity we could contain the sea, but the rising tide is proving otherwise.
Studying this confluence of land, people and sea has kept Gary Griggs busy for much of his life. Seventy-six years old, with a shock of white hair and a long stride, Griggs has spent decades examining every inch of the California coast. An oceanographer, coastal geologist and longtime professor at UC Santa Cruz, he has a way of explaining erosion with the excitement of someone who’s seeing everything for the first time. The coast is always, has always been, changing, he likes to say. Every high and low tide brings new surprises."
Final moments before Pride flag killing emerge, along with disturbing portrait of gunman
LA Times, NOAH GOLDBERG: "For years before last week’s killing of a businesswoman who displayed a Pride flag in front of her Lake Arrowhead shop,, the gunman, Travis Ikeguchi, posted far-right, conspiratorial content to his social media accounts.
Most of it had no personal detail. There were rants against the LGBTQ+ community, posts about political correctness as well as anti-police content. Ikeguchi posted often on his Christian beliefs and about the importance of accepting Jesus Christ."
How to navigate renewed COVID threat in the Bay Area
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "A local theater troupe cancels a weekend of performances because cast members have COVID. A Sunday luncheon is postponed because the hostess has fallen ill. A colleague catches the coronavirus on a trip back from Italy. The nearby Walgreens is sold out of home test kits.
There’s no mistaking that the SARS-CoV-2 virus is staging an unwanted comeback in the Bay Area. The uptick in COVID cases evokes memories of summers since 2020. Official figures, though early, back up the anecdotes: The state’s test positivity rate has climbed to 11.8%, its highest level since the beginning of the year, and hospitalizations are up more than 63% in the last month, from a seven-day average of 163 admissions per day in mid-July to 266 per day last week."
“Downright Orwellian”: San Jose church that paid $1.2 million in Covid fines sues county over surveillance
BANG*Mercury News, GRACE HASE: "A San Jose church ordered to pay $1.2 million in fines for defying public health mandates at the height of the pandemic is suing Santa Clara County, accusing them of putting the non-denominational Christian church and its congregants under unconstitutional surveillance.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco by Calvary Chapel and its pastor, Mike McClure, alleges the county “embarked on an invasive and warrantless geofencing operation to track residents.”"
How this nonprofit director feels about bill to change how mental health care funds are spent
Sac Bee, HECTOR AMEZCUA: "LaTanya Ri'Chard, co-founder of nonprofit Communities Voices, which provides peer counseling and support groups, shares concerns at an Assembly hearing on Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023, about with Senate Bill 326, which would change how mental health care funds are allocated."
Crowd protests LGBTQ+ education in Los Angeles; two arrested at LAUSD offices
LA Times, HOWARD BLUME: "About 150 demonstrators who oppose LGBTQ+ education marched on Monday from City Hall to the Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters, where two counterprotesters were taken into custody as dozens of officers kept the opposing groups apart after heated exchanges.
The demonstrators came from across Southern California including San Diego, Antelope Valley, Glendale and Los Angeles. A few identified themselves as parents at Saticoy Elementary School, where fighting broke out between opposing sides during a demonstration over a Gay Pride activity in June."
West Contra Costa taps retirees and others to fill teacher vacancies in second week of school
EdSource, ALI TADAYON: "Amid the ongoing national teacher shortage, West Contra Costa Unified started its second week of the 2023-24 school year with 80 teacher vacancies, which may lead to shuffling teachers during the first few weeks of school.
According to the district’s spokesperson, Elizabeth Sanders, when the school year started on Aug. 15, the district had 99 unfilled teacher vacancies out of about 1,500 certificated positions. Certificated staff are largely teachers, but include counselors, librarians and instructional coaches."
Will S.F.’s Westfield mall become a stadium? Mayor Breed says city is studying the idea
The Chronicle, J.D. MORRIS: "San Francisco is working on the conceptual design of a potential soccer stadium that might one day replace the struggling downtown mall that Westfield recently decided to return to its lenders, Mayor London Breed said Tuesday.
Breed told reporters and business leaders gathered at the Chamber of Commerce’s Financial District offices that the city and the architecture firm Gensler were doing “some preliminary design work on what potentially is possible” for a stadium that could be built at Westfield’s San Francisco Centre site at Market and Fifth streets."
Marin’s largest affordable housing development in 50 years was just approved — next to San Quentin
The Chronicle, J.K. DINEEN: "A former gun range just north of San Quentin State Prison is set to become Marin County’s largest affordable housing development in 50 years, after the state certified the environmental study for the project.
The development, dubbed Oak Hill, will sit on about 8½ acres of unused state property in an unincorporated area of Larkspur tucked between the 3,000-inmate prison and a subdivision of multimillion-dollar homes. It will include 135 units of workforce housing for teachers and staff of local housing districts as well as another 115 homes targeting low-income families."
Oakland Mayor Thao defends efforts to combat crime amid rising criticism
The Chronicle, SARAH RAVANI: "Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao said Tuesday the city is “working day and night” to address rising crime by investing in violence prevention programs and expanding collaboration with the governor and Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.
Thao said her administration is trying to improve Ceasefire, the Police Department’s anti-violence program, working with the California Highway Patrol to enforce traffic laws, installing more license plate readers throughout the city and working with the sheriff’s office to set up checkpoints for drivers under the influence."
Trump lawyer John Eastman turns himself in for arrest in Georgia
LA Times, SARAH D. WIRE: "John Eastman, a California attorney and ally of former President Trump, surrendered at a Fulton County, Ga., jail Tuesday following an indictment handed down last week in connection with attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
Eastman is accused of pressuring then-Vice President Mike Pence to delay Congress’ certification of the election results or to throw out Georgia’s votes, and of helping to organize fake slates of electors in Georgia and other states who cast ballots for Trump in an effort to undermine Joe Biden’s win when Congress met to certify the election on Jan. 6, 2021."
